Azul Arc

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President and CEO of RFCI

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are an Association serving 48 member companies in the Resilient Flooring Sector of North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Azul Arc to accomplish?

• Member Portal (2013)
• Website Redesign (2019)
• Website Support (2013 - Present)

SOLUTION

How did you find Azul Arc?

Previous Business Engagement with CEO

Why did you select Azul Arc over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our goal for adding the Member Portal to the site was to allow RFCI  members to access resources about resilient flooring, and display event information. 

Our goals for the 2019 Website Redesign project were to enhance the organization’s digital presence, and represent the products and resources in a more modern and visual way. Our primary considerations were modernizing the website, simplifying the site navigation, and displaying more high quality images (including those in the product gallery). We also wanted to upgrade the Wordpress Platform, and improve mobile responsiveness and SEO. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Azul Arc has done a terrific job of developing and managing our website over more than 11 years.  Tremendously innovative.  Dedicated to a quality product and experience. Attention to Detail is another key plus. Always highly responsive.  Meets deadlines.  Much more!  The CEO is a true visionary who is constantly searching for the next frontier.  He has assembled an incredible team over the years.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

A Product Manager is the primary point of contact and facilitates design, development, and consultative requests. 

What was your primary form of communication with Azul Arc?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The CEO is brilliant and highly respected.  He has created a company that is composed of truly innovative associates who are totally focused on their mission and their customers. Azul Arc's longevity is a testament to the quality of its deliverables.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Azul Arc could have done differently?

Very happy with this team!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the former VP Product Marketing of (a/an) Manufacturing

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Manufactures commercial laminate surface systems

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Azul Arc to accomplish?

• Create (computer-generated imagery) CGI images for marketing use
• Develop a visualizer to depict our products in different uses

SOLUTION

How did you find Azul Arc?

Referral

Why did you select Azul Arc over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

What was the size of Azul Arc’s team?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Develop various CGI room scenes, then a visualizer platform to allow a designer to depict various colors of our products in various settings and appications

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Project met our pricing and timing requirements. Visualizer tool became a key tool for our sales team when working with design clients

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The are excellent program managers. They were very clear in deliverables and were always on top of the process to keep all stakeholders on track. There were also highly responsive to questions along the way, even when many time zones were involved.

What was your primary form of communication with Azul Arc?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I loved their working style and values. You felt as though you were working with friends, not just a vendor. They were able to help us achieve a lot on a very limited budget.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Azul Arc could have done differently?

None come to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CMO of Supply Chain Now, a global business digital media company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Azul Arc, and what were your goals?

We hired Azul Arc from a professional reference and needed a total rehaul on our website. We knew it would be a massive undertaking due to all the content we needed added and transferred to the new site.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We had a short list of vendors we wanted to work with, and Azul Arc's portfolio of work and confidence in the job tipped the scales in their favor.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had weekly meetings going through all the pages and the content to be added, down to the details of colors, popup designs, page formatting, etc. We used WordPress and multiple plugins, security features, embedded media players, customized pages, etc

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with at least four people, 2 that were project managers, one designer, and one developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We were very happy with the website after it launched. We had a few details that we needed to change and update and the Azul Arc team was right on top of fixing those items for us.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had weekly meetings with emails in between. Email responses were very timely and thorough.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They were very thorough and they had great project management and troubleshooting skills. They stayed on top of all tasks and responsibilities.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not that you could easily anticipate

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder & CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) of Ecomedes, a technology platform designed to make sustainable decision-making easier, primarily for people in the real estate, design, and construction industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Azul Arc?

We needed a partner to help turn our initial idea into a usable web app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built out the MVP of our first technology platform. Automating product buying, the platform allows users to specify the brand and features of the appliance they want and then buy the one that best fits their needs.

Azul Arc helped us understand how to build an MVP and then designed the parameters of the solution. Working through several design phases, they helped create our architecture by making us aware of available technologies. They also developed the front- and backend of the solution.

What is the team composition?

Zahir (CEO), Felipe (Director, UI & Creative), and Irfan (Vice President, Development & Software Engineering) were the main points of contact. There were backend and frontend development and design teams working under their leadership as well.

How did you come to work with Azul Arc?

We’d worked with them previously to a positive outcome and wanted to work with them again. I appreciated how they were always evolving and improving as a technology company.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $50,000–$200,000. Part of that was equity rather than capital.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July 2014–June 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Feedback has been positive, and our clients like it. Azul Arc’s entire team did a great job. They took our idea from the concept stage all the way to a real-world solution that has paying clients and drives revenue.

How did Azul Arc perform from a project management standpoint?

They had strong project management and clear communication, keeping us updated on progress and asking all the right questions. Weekly check-ins, as well as Slack and email, made up our communication. Azul Arc even delivered ahead of schedule on some components.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A distinguishing factor was that Azul Arc’s team had a mix of stateside leadership and offshore development. They worked cohesively, providing around-the-clock accessibility, and were quite engaged in our success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wouldn’t change anything about their process.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Engage Azul Arc as a partner early on in your process. Their team drew from multi-threaded resources and broad experience; capitalize on those factors and walk through your concepts and ideas together.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Rising Roll Gourmet Café is a fast casual restaurant franchise with 20+ locations and more opening up soon. Franchising Concepts is a franchise consulting company that connects people interested in purchasing a franchise with the right franchise opportunity. I am President and CEO of both companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Azul Arc?

a0 Web Design and Development for both Rising Roll and Franchising Concepts.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to redesign the websites of my companies to ensure that they represented the ideology behind both brands. We aim to create a truly unique dining experience for customers that visit our Rising Roll locations.

Hence, we want to ensure their experience online, either ordering from our catering menu or browsing our site, both just as memorable. As for Franchising Concepts, we started getting approached by more interested parties and wanted the website to reflect all of the professionalism and decades of experience our team has with a modern innovative design.

In addition, as we begin on-boarding independent Certified Franchising Consultants to our team, we wanted an easily-clonable website that we could provide to each consultant as part or our services.

SOLUTION

How did you select Azul Arc?

I) Personal Network

Describe the project in detail.

For Rising Roll, Azul Arc helped us add gated content in the form of an Operations Manual to our site. The Operations manual consists of three different modules that accommodate the needs of three different user types: admin panel, approved user access to manual, and new user verification process.

For Franchising Concepts , Azul Arc re-designed the entire website to give it a cleaner more modern look. They also created a template for an easily-clonable website to be given to our Certified Franchising Consultants.

In addition, Azul Arc is providing on-going support for both Rising Roll and Franchising Concepts. They were extremely passionate about their work and I felt like they were a part of my team.

What was the team composition?

I worked with two Project Managers and a UX/UI designer. They all scheduled multiple conversations with me to understand what I wanted for my websites and translated this into design wireframes. The Product Managers also gave me constant updates on the progress accomplished by the development team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

To incredible websites which really represent my brands with fresh modern look. As for results:

1. New project leads and franchisee prospects coming from the FC website
2. Incredible comments from people visiting the Franchising Concepts websites and extremely positive feedback from our customers visiting the updated Rising Roll website.
3. New catering orders being processed via the Rising Roll website

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

1. Constant communication from the extremely professional Project Managers who gave me updates on the progress and implemented any feedback I gave them
2. Met on a weekly basis and then bi-weekly basis during the design and development phases respectively to ensure I was happy with the product

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Commitment to the success of my company by investing an incredible amount of time in understanding not just our web development projects, but also our overall business goals.

They were so passionate, I truly felt like they were my employees. Constant and open communication to insure I was aware of the current status of the project and timeline Their availability to work as needed to complete the high demand projects I gave them

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, it was an incredible experience and I highly recommend this company; they were amazing

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

VeenendaalCave, Inc. (now acquired by NELSON Worldwide) is an Atlanta-based interior design firm providing a full range of interior planning and design services to corporate office, healthcare and industrial clients throughout the United States. We constantly strive to improve upon our design service delivery and think proactively on behalf of our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Azul Arc, and what were your goals?

Projects

Website design and custom mobile site.

Goals

We wanted to ensure our website conveyed our expertise in interior design by giving it a modern, clean feel. We wanted to highlight our various projects and clientele with an interactive design that made for a memorable user experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select Azul Arc and what were the deciding factors?

Personal network. We interviewed several firms and chose Azul Arc for their proposed approach and process. Their great reputation and customer satisfaction was also a factor. Azul Arc redesigned and developed the VeenendaalCave website as a CMS platform using WordPress.

The design was set to reflect industry research and the most up to date UI/UX standards. They created a responsive site with jQuery animation with a total of five custom designed pages, plus the home page.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Azul Arc redesigned and developed the VeenendaalCave website as a CMS platform using WordPress. The design was set to reflect industry research and the most up to date UI/UX standards.

They created a responsive site with jQuery animation with a total of five custom designed pages, plus the home page. They implemented an agile process (Scrum) to deliver the project. This reduced the timeline and helped us stay on track.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with a Product Manager who facilities communication and gave us constant updates on the project’s progress. We also had direct communication with the company’s UI/ UX Designer, so we were able to share our vision for the website with him.

Azul Arc's CEO checked in throughout the process to ensure our expectations were being met. His insight and suggestions added value to the solution.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our website became a great recruiting tool, many employees shared the website allowed them to illustrate the company culture. Our trafic spiked significantly and we constantly received positive feedback from our clients. It was a great tool to attract new clients that were not familiar with us.

On our end, VeenendaalCave’s website became a benchmark referenced by multiple other clients as something they aspire for in terms of web design! Some of our clients and industry partners also engaged Azul Arc for their website and other web development projects.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Had a direct point of contact at the company that was highly responsive to all our questions and requests. Held weekly and/ or bi-weekly meetings as needed to ensure we were kept in the loop during the design and development phases

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Several things:

1. Investment in our project’s success by going above and beyond to make sure they were delivering the best product possible.
2. Their attention to detail throughout the entire process was amazing
3. Extensive communication so we always knew what was going on

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I can't think of anything specific. It was a great, refreshing experience.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product development at a cybersecurity company. We specialize in trying to predict and prevent cybersecurity positions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Azul Arc?

We needed someone to provide us with UI and database development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Azul Arc helped us to bring a brand new product to market by creating a user interface as well as the database required to take our information and create a dashboard for a cybersecurity maritime industry. 

The user interface was created from scratch — we had an idea of what we wanted, but we needed the expertise of their designers to take our vision and put it into an image our team could scrutinize and provide feedback on. 

Once the user interface was completed, Azul Arc went ahead and tied in all of the disparate data we’d sent them into a cohesive output, the dashboard. 

As far as technologies used, they built most if not all of it on WordPress, by our request. They used other softwares along the way, including a graphic design and SaaS software for us to view and provide feedback on the images.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about four people from their team directly. 

How did you come to work with Azul Arc?

I was introduced to them via a contact of mine at a business school. That contact was also working with Azul Arc, and he said they were a great, experienced team offering a great service at a fair price. 

We first asked them to produce a single deliverable, and they did so successfully, so I knew they were the right team to work with going forward. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested roughly $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from June–September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Qualitatively, we were able to generate at least one big customer meeting, as well as several other webinars. Our partners are also very happy that we’re able to show them what we’re trying to develop. All in all, I think our investment with Azul Arc will produce a 400% return. 

How did Azul Arc perform from a project management standpoint?

Azul Arc was exemplary. They’re very professional project managers who can talk to all the stakeholders and put together a cohesive plan. It’s one of the reasons we decided to invest more in them.

The first part of the exercise was mostly a waterfall approach, so we didn’t need to do a lot of project management and sprints. However, they have introduced me to their internal agile approach, including the software that we’re going to use as we continue working with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Azul Arc is very knowledgeable in terms of what we needed done, when we needed it, and the level of quality to produce a successful product. Even though there were some last-minute changes, they always had a great attitude and were always able to accommodate us without raising the budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything we needed them to do any differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you don’t know Azul Arc’s background, at least give them a shot to impress you. They can produce really high quality work for a low budget. Once they prove their worth, it’ll be pretty obvious they’re the right company to partner with to produce amazing products.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a startup developing a SaaS platform that is focused on making the lives of boutique studio owners easier by providing a simple, intuitive on-stop solution for all their studio management needs. I'm the Co-founder and CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Azul Arc, and what were your goals?

My Co-founder and I have this idea for a concept that would disrupt the boutique fitness studio management space. The challenge was that neither of us were expert developers, and also did not have the training in UI/UX.

And as a startup, we did not have the resources to hire an entire team of developers and UI/UX designers right away. Our goals was to have a dependable development partner who would work with us to develop the MVP and v1 of the platform, by which time we hope to raise enough funds to bring the development in-house.

We needed a team that could flex as needed and bring in resources with specific skillsets (example UI/UX designers) as needed, and we needed that at startup prices!

SOLUTION

How did you select Azul Arc and what were the deciding factors?

One of the things we were trying to do is find a team that would meet our criteria

1. Be agile / flexible
2. Have all the skillsets we need
3. Be priced right
4. And most importantly, be true partners with us as we started on this journey, and provide us feedback / push back if certain features we wished for didn't make sense from a technical perspective or made sense to push to a later release to help us manage our budget.

We interviewed around 5 companies ranging from small 3-4 person shops to large (and well known) development firms before we made our decision to move forward with Azul Arc because they met all our criteria and felt like they would be true partners with us on this and we weren't wrong!

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The scope of the work was to take our concept (which was largely in our heads) and put some structure around it and actually build a stable MVP and v1 of the SaaS platform which would serve as a strong foundation on which we could build upon (we did not want to bootstrap an MVP and then rebuild it again from scratch once we had more funding).

We went through all the phases of development right from taking our ideas and putting them down on paper together as a team, building out ERDs, a product development timeline, UI/UX design and then development of the modules in the order we discussed.

There are some cool features that don't exist in the marketplace right now but the platform has all the basics - auto-emails, push notifications to clients, reactive design, client and backend management modules, admin dashboards, advanced analytics / business intelligence, and APIs for integration with boutique studio webpages and softwares, as well as third party vendors that boutique studios use.

The platform is based on a MERN stack and uses React JS for a mobile and desktop experience.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team we have worked with has included two product managers, one UX designer, one creative designer, and 4 developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The platform is still in development but so far the team has provided high quality deliverables, including UI/UX screens and wireframes and modules to test in UAT.

What really stands out is the fact that the Azul Arc team has taken this on as if this were their own product and added little enhancements that they came up with on their own which improve the overall user experience which is what we are so focused on, while still keeping it simple and intuitive.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

The team uses an Agile methodology and used a wire variety of tools to manage the project and keep us involved the entire time, right from cool electronic whiteboards for our brainstorming workshops, Invision for Wireframes and UI/UX screens and Podio for Collaboration and Workflow Management to name a few.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

There are a couple of things that make me not regret our decision to move forward with Azul Arc:

1. The point I made above about them proactively adding enhancements to the UX is huge. I've worked with a bunch of development companies in the past who would do exactly what I asked them to do and not one little thing more than that.
2. The team is not only flexible when we add modules / pivot due to market conditions or new information (which they did at the drop of a hat) but also invested in the platform by taking on some of the costs that we would incur by developing a variant that would help us get to market faster to service a small subset of our final target customer segment. Not many companies would do that!

I see them as real partners as we build our platform and grow our business.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We're still in development and things have been going great these past 8 months, but the only thing I can think of right now is that my co-founder and I come up with new ideas and things we would like to include in the platform and keep peppering them with these.

I know they document all of these (as a lot of them would be for future versions of the platform) but it's a little unsettling that we don't see it somewhere (and are afraid we would forget them ourselves later on).

I know the team does document them because they have brought up ideas we proposed at the onset of the project at specific times over the past few months, but since we don't see their list, it sometimes makes me think we might forget something with all that's going on (might be just me :)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO at Whitaker-Taylor. Our company offers SAP consulting services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Azul Arc?

We hired them for a research and development project as we were exploring the viability of introducing a new product to the market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided design and development services. We started with some design ideas around the product. The team figured out the best way to uncover the product from a user experience perspective.

Azul Arc guided us with their insights on SaaS products and how to position payment and design options to make it a sustainable model. They developed high definition and low definition prototypes. After sharing those, the team did a few interviews with potential customers. They created screens and user stories, as well. The team delivered a real package that I could test within the market.

What is the team composition?

I worked with five people regularly.

How did you come to work with Azul Arc?

I believe it was a referral. Before we started the project, their team spent time coaching us about how to approach this type of project. We talked through ideas before signing the contract.

How much have you invested with them?

It was in the $70,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking with Azul Arc in November 2019, and we finished earlier this month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

I’m happy with the end result. All of the designs were impressive. Everyone I shared them with had great feedback. The team was professional and structured. The team is fair with their pricing and approach to business development. I think I got a lot more value than what I pay for.

The team understood what we were looking to do. When there were more technical or design architecture questions, they pulled in other team members that I was able to speak to. I also had great access to their CEO to ask questions and discuss the timeline. The entire team was flexible, easygoing, and accommodating.

How did Azul Arc perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly meetings. They used InVision and other project management tools for sharing information. It was very seamless and practical. Even when I was rambling, they kept things very structured.

Azul Arc kept me organized, which was important. When we transitioned because of the coronavirus, I didn’t see any difference. They were resourceful and attentive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Azul Arc’s team is invested. They understood the purpose of our product. They asked questions to ensure that they understood it. Their investment went a long way. Without Azul Arc, I’m not sure we would’ve been successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think I do. It went as well as I could’ve expected. The team met all of my requests.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take the time to share information and explain your vision. They’ll listen and absorb it, but the client has to be open to sharing. Be open to their input and feedback. Their experience goes beyond the development piece. They have a great strategic mindset.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of iSchool Initiative, a professional development and training company to help teachers adopt new technology in education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Azul Arc?

We’re currently pivoting from being a service-based company where we provide the bulk of the training, to a platform-based company, where we will be launching our own software to be the marketplace for professional trainers in education.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built out a framework for a platform that we’re building to become that marketplace. They spent 3–4 months brainstorming a UI that allows us to showcase what the platform can do when they fully develop.

What is the team composition?

There were four people involved on and off. They were led by Zach (Project Manager). Kate (User Interface Designer) built the interfaces.

How did you come to work with Azul Arc?

One of my colleagues networked with them at an event in Atlanta. He introduced them to us.

How much have you invested with them?

It’s been about a $30,000 project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began work in January 2019. We’re still working together today.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Azul Arc has been fantastic to work with. We’ve worked with prior developers working on a similar project, so we have easy anecdotes to compare them to and can say that they're amazing with confidence.

Because they’re the experts, they were able to work with us to build something better than we wanted. We didn’t know the possibilities and most companies will build a project as we describe it. They worked with us to build something better than we could have ever imagined.

How did Azul Arc perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re incredibly efficient and communicative. They’re very specific with their timelines — if we told them we wanted a new feature they would know how to implement it and exactly what would happen with the deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to know what I wanted when I didn’t even know what I wanted continued to impress me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were initially some redundant phone conversations, but it’s a very small thing that I’m nitpicking.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go in with an open mind and trust their expertise. You may know your industry well, but you want to trust their judgment and be flexible with how to shape your product.